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Fly Agaric and Man.


Pages: 405 - 414

Abstract

We do not know nearly enough about the fly agaric as an hallucinogen. But the evidence indicates certain traits to be defined thus: a. It begins to act in fifteen or twenty minutes and the effects last for hours. b. First it is a soporific. One goes to sleep for about two hours, and the sleep is not normal. One cannot be roused from it, but is sometimes. aware of the sounds round about. In this half-sleep sometimes one has coloured visions that respond, at least to some extent, to one's desires. c. Some subjects enjoy a feeling of elation that lasts for three or four hours after waking from the sleep. In this stage it is interesting to note that the superiority of this drug over alcohol is particularly emphasized: the fly agaric is not merely better, it belongs to a different and superior order of inebriant, according to those who have enjoyed the experience. During this state the subject is often capable of extraordinary feats of physical effort, and enjoys performing them. d. A peculiar feature ofthe fly agaric is that its hallucinogenic properties pass into the urine,and another may drink this urine to enjoy the same effect. Indeed it is said that the urine of three or four successive drinkers may be thus consumed without noticeable loss of inebriating effect.This surprising trait of fly agaric inebriation is unique in the hallucinogenic world, so far as our present knowledge goes. The soporific and kinetic effects of the fly amanita are utterly unlike anything produced by the mushrooms of the genus Psilocybe of Mexico.